Ben Simmons is currently in his hometown Melbourne, where he is preparing for the upcoming exhibition games against Team USA. He and some friends wanted to visit a Melbourne casino, and after security staff singled them out and asked for identification, Simmons believed he had been racially profiled.
Simmons even shared a video on Instagram in which he asked why he and two black friends were asked for ID, but another person in their group, who is white, was not. Simmons deleted the video later, when it began making news and following a statement from the casino, saying that security staff routinely did ID checks on persons who appear younger than 25.
The casino’s statement said its “Internal security policy requires our security officers to check the identification of those persons they believe to be under the age of 25, this is an enhanced safeguard to ensure that no one under the age of 18 is permitted entry to the casino floor as required by law. The group subsequently provided identification and were permitted entry … [we] strenuously reject reports that it discriminated against a group of visitors last night.”
The 23-year-old recently became the highest-paid Australian athlete when he signed a five-year, $170 million contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers. Security apparently didn’t recognize him at the entrance but allowed him to enter at a second entry point after Simmons provided identification.
Although he deleted the video, Simmons shared a post on Twitter to explain the situation.
As you know an incident happened last night at Crown and my friends and I felt personally singled out, no one likes to feel like this. I am very passionate about equality and I will always speak up even if it means having uncomfortable conversations.
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) August 6, 2019
Simmons was born in Melbourne, and his father is African American, so he believed all the fuss occurred because of his skin color. However, he didn’t explain why he deleted the initial video from Instagram.
Simmons was invited by the Australian team to take part at the upcoming FIBA World Cup in China, but he decided to withdraw in order to focus for the upcoming NBA season. Still, Simmons will appear in exhibition games against the Team USA in Melbourne later this month.
